Legislative Advocacy Agenda

Coverage and Reimbursement

Request that members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction include in their proposal to Congress a permanent repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate formula for Medicare physician payments. A new payment model should reward providers for patient outcomes based on risk-adjusted quality outcomes data and the efficient use of limited resources.

Seek final acceptance of RUC-recommended RVUs from the 5-Year Review of RVUs under the Physician Fee Schedule.

Until CMS establishes accepted methodologies other than the American Medical Association/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) to determine values, STS strongly encourages CMS to align its decisions with the concerted, informed, and evidence-based efforts of the RUC and the specialty societies representing physicians who perform the procedures.